Hidden Cameras and a 15-Year Reunion
The upcoming documentary Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger captures the iconic Britpop band’s return to touring in 2025, and the moment Noel and Liam Gallagher finally reconciled after years apart. The film’s directors, Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, took an unusually hands-off approach to capturing that reunion: they were absent from the room entirely.
In a London studio where the Gallaghers met for the first time in 15 years to rehearse for the reunion tour, Southern and Lovelace set up a hidden camera rig, designed so the band “would never see a single member of the film crew,” Southern says. Footage was livestreamed to a room outside the rehearsal space, where the directors watched the famously feuding brothers reunite in real time. “I don’t think Liam even realized there were cameras there for the first week,” Southern adds.
Noel and Liam’s meeting came 15 years after Oasis’s explosive ending in August 2009. According to VICE, the notoriously volatile brothers hadn’t seen each other in person during that time, though rumors spread before the reunion announcement in 2024 that they seemed to be getting tired of their long-running feud. The camera approach felt natural given the film’s focus on the brothers’ interpersonal relationship and how they navigated being Oasis again.
From Rehearsal to World Tour
Southern and Lovelace assembled footage from these rehearsals alongside coverage of the world tour that followed and the brothers’ first joint interview in more than 20 years. The crew filmed at almost all of the tour’s 41 dates across 14 countries on five continents, according to Billboard, and almost every song from the setlist is included in the film. Cinematographers on the project include Haris Zambarloukos, Lol Crawley, and James Laxton, and the shooting for IMAX was done because the directors wanted a big visual spectacular.
The film is directed by Southern and Lovelace, who previously directed the LCD Soundsystem concert film Shut Up and Play the Hits and Meet Me in the Bathroom, adapted from Lizzy Goodman’s book about early 2000s New York indie-rock.
Southern described the film as being about reconciliation, forgiveness, and breakthrough moments, with the title reflecting the story. The filmmakers also said fan reactions were more emotional than expected. Southern noted that the fan reaction was a huge catalyst in the brothers’ relationship by the end of the film.
Release and Streaming Plans
Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger will premiere at the Venice International Film Festival in September, followed by a theatrical release on September 11. It will later stream on Disney+ and Hulu, with international availability on Disney+ as well.
As VICE put it, the documentary captures a huge moment for the Gallaghers as brothers and bandmates, but also for fans who had been waiting a long time. The film’s focus on the brothers’ interpersonal dynamics and the emotional response of audiences suggests a portrait that goes beyond a typical concert film.